Page 59 of We The Depraved
“I….”
My voice is gone and I want to sob and cry.
“You don’t like them?”
“No…I…” My fingers trace over the cover for the Philosopher’s Stone and an image of my mother’s face as she throws her head back laughing hits me. I’m in a my feelings for a few moments because I don’t allow myself to miss her to much.
I shake myself out of it.
“I love them,” I nod, choking back a few tears.
“My brother suggested something thoughtful,” Niki looks over for just a moment.
“I hadn’t even thought about replacing my copies.”
My eyes glance up and I take in the profile of my husband. “So why don’t you read, we’ve still got some time in our journey.”
Giving a nod that was exactly what I do. Flipping open the book, I ease back into my seat and let my mind transport me to the magical wizarding world that I loved so much. As the rain beat down on the car, my eyes moved across the pages and I found myself actually starting to drift off.
The Texas sun beat down on my body. I had on a strawberry inspired bikini as I lay out by the pool. My blooming breasts were encased in two red triangles. A few girls from school had been invited over to swim.
Today, I was the day I turned sixteen years old and things felt normal for once. My father was out of town for some law conference. He’d had the housekeeper set up a few things. And Khrystina was at my grandmothers.
“We need more juice,” one of the Tiffanies looked at me over her pink shades.
“Bitch,” I murmured, considering this is my party.
I don’t want to play hostess but I am also trying to fit in. I saw what the girls did to Tiffany H. last week when she didn’t play the game. She had been caught giving a blow job to a football player and things had not gone well for her. The minute she’d been ostracized, I’d gone in to take her spot.
“On it, Tiff!”
I gave a tight smile, and waded out of the pool and into the house. My lower half is dripping wet and I got into the fridge about to pull out the strawberry lemonade when the doorbell rings. A grumble escapes from my lips and I shove the juice back in.
“Who is it now?” I grumble some more.
Making my way to the front door, wondering where the housekeeper is, I check the clock by the door. It’s almost three thirty, the housekeeper is deep in the middle of her soap opera that I sometimes watch with her when I’m home sick from school. The doorbell rings again before I can get to it.
“Hold your horses,” I roll my eyes.
My hand twists the door knob that feels cool in my hands. As the door swings open, Texas heat seeps into the house immediately and there’s a man standing there his back turned to me.
“What is it?” I snap.
He turns then and eyes me. I’ve only seen him a few times with my dad. We have never had a conversation, just seen each other in passing.
“Is Judge Porter home?”
“No, he’s not.”
The man looks me up and down. He can’t be much older than twenty five. His green eyes are warm and I know there’s something I’m reading behind them.
I’m sixteen, not dumb because I’m tingling down below. This isn’t like when I let Gregory Jones finger me at the church picnics when I’m with grandma. No this is something completely different. Attraction, I think. He’s really handsome now that I can see him up close and he’s not some fleeting shadow.
“Do you know when he’s going to be back?”
“God,” I catch myself saying.
“What?”
